About the Healthy Workplace Standards (HWS)

The Healthy Workplace Standards recognise and celebrate workplaces across Milton Keynes, Central Bedfordshire, and Bedford Borough, which are committed to improving and maintaining a healthy and happy workplace. The HWS have been developed for Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes, in association with The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. 

The HWS are a best practiced framework helping local workplaces to improve the health and wellbeing of their workforce.

The Healthy Workplace Standards scheme invite employers to take a flexible, honest appraisal of how their organisation is performing, starting at Bronze level and overtime progressing through to Gold. 

The HWS are flexible to allow organisations to work towards a specific area of workplace health or to comply with all eight of the core standards, within their own timescale:

For further information or to register for the Healthy Workplace Standards please click below:

Register | Healthy Workplace Award or email Public Health 

The Healthy Workplace Standards brochure and flyer is available to download or print.

Read the 2021 to 2022 Healthy Workplace Standards brochure

and the accessible version.

Health Workplace Standards Flyer and the accessible version.

 

HWS registered workplaces

Please click to view registered workplaces, committed to improving the health and wellbeing of their workforce

Workplace

Website

Contact email

 
Aiimi www.aiimi.com crichmond@aiimi.com  
Aira aira.net nora.pesheva@aira.net  

ATL

Home | Aero Tec Laboratories (atlltd.com) EWilkinson@atlltd.com     
Bedford College Group www.bedfordcollegegroup.ac.uk   gbubbins@bedford.ac.uk  
Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce (chamber-business.com)

paula.devine@chamber-business.com

 
Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service Home - Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service (bucksfire.gov.uk) Rlailey@bucksfire.gov.uk  

Carers in Bedfordshire

www.carersinbeds.org.uk/

carol.solaiman@carersinbeds.org.uk

 
Ceetak www.ceetak.com  charrowing@ceetak.com  

Central Bedfordshire Council
(CBC)

www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

debbie.crawford@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

 
Central North West London (CNWL) Community Teams

https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/

lauren.henson1@nhs.net

 
Citizens Advice Bedford

http://www.bedfordcab.org.uk

fran@bedfordcab.org.uk  

Clearview Intelligence

www.clearview-intelligence.com

claire.macdonagh@clearview-intelligence.com
claire.mcfarlane@clearview-intelligence.com

 
Clophill St Mary’s School Clophill St Marys C of E Lower School - Home (clophillstmarysschool.co.uk) lgteach@clophillstmarysschool.co.uk  

Cranswick Foods

www.cranswick.plc.uk/our-story/our-sites/milton-keynes     

abigail.jones@cranswick.co.uk

 
Fairfield’s Primary School

https://www.fairfieldsprimary.co.uk/

louise.kane@fairfieldsprimary.co.uk

 

Grand Union Housing

www.guhg.co.uk

nicola.bowerman@guhg.co.uk

 
Health Watch Central Bedfordshire

Healthwatch Central Bedfordshire (healthwatch-centralbedfordshire.org.uk)

alison.newnham@healthwatch-centralbedfordshire.org.uk  
Health Watch MK Healthwatch Milton Keynes | Your spotlight on health and social care services maxine.taffetani@healthwatchmiltonkeynes.co.uk  
Home Instead Luton & Central Bedfordshire www.homeinstead.co.uk/luton cheryl.marr@homeinstead.co.uk  
Land Structure Limited

www.landstructure.com

kirsty.dwan@startanew,co.uk

 
Living It Up www.lovelivingitup.org

fizz@lovelivingitup.org

 
Liz Male Consulting Ltd www.lizmale.co.uk

liz@lizmale.co.uk

 

 
Marquee Chameleon Events Ltd www.chameleon-events.com  

cassandrag@chameleon-events.com

 
Milton Keynes City Council Milton Keynes City Council (milton-keynes.gov.uk) Julie.clark@milton-keynes.gov.uk  

 

MK SNAP

MK Snap – Special Needs Advancement Project steve.oliver@mksnap.org  

Oakridge Park Medical Centre

Oakridge Park Medical Centre katrina.bonwick@nhs.net  
Q:alliance

http://www.qalliance.org.uk

jenn@qalliance.org.uk

 

Simas Accounting & Tax

www.simas-accounts.co.uk helen@simas-accounts.co.uk  
South Central Ambulance Service www.scas.nhs.uk

Angela.Banks@scas.nhs.uk

 
Whaddon Health Group https://www.whaddonhealthcare.co.uk/ sarah.riley12@nhs.net  

Zoological Society London
(ZSL)

www.zsl.org

taryn.louw@zsl.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 

                                                                                                                     

 

HWS testimonials and examples of best practice

Central Bedfordshire Council testimonial

"As a Council, we have identified the importance of the health and wellbeing of our staff and formed a group of representatives from across different areas of the Council to discuss what we are doing in related activities and support.  This enabled us to start to identify gaps and needs and has given good insights that have supported further developments.  Coming together as a group has enabled us to develop Health and Wellbeing Champions across the Council and Mental Health First Aiders.  These are volunteer roles from existing staff who are now well placed to provide support for access to what’s on offer, act as point of contact and first line support and signposting.  Alongside this, a few support groups are starting to emerge supporting specific staff needs, such as menopause, race, religion and culture networks and men’s wellbeing.  So, we feel like we are really starting to get a good understanding of individuals needs in the context of their health and wellbeing.  We have had very positive support with this at all levels, including senior managers – it is easy to see that ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff contributes to our principles, values, and ethos.  It also can have a direct impact on staff absence and staff leavers so important to us.

When the Healthy Workplace award was launched, we saw it as a great opportunity to enable us to benchmark where we are and to understand what gaps there might be related to our support offer.  Because the standards are defined as Bronze, Silver, and Gold, of course we will aspire to be Gold, but our reality is that it is a journey and having a template that enables us to know where we are in supporting health and wellbeing, is a key tool that enables us to benchmark our position and understand what we need to do to further progress.

We have designated a role that is taking a lead on the activities to support us to position ourselves.  They are currently engaging in the benchmarking and will be conducting focus groups to get a broader understanding where gaps are identified of what the needs are that we need to further develop.

Investing in staff wellbeing is critical to a positive and safe working environment that demonstrates care and support and understanding and is important to us, especially in the context of more hybrid ways of working and the greater challenges being felt from the current circumstances we are all existing in,  alongside our residents.

As we explore and develop our position on health and wellbeing, it has highlighted greater opportunities for us to engage with our members who are also similarly affected, and our work to support them in a wider health and wellbeing strategy that is being developed across all of CBC.  It is also our opportunity to work with colleagues across the BLMK who are also faced with similar issues and challenges."

Clearview Intelligence testimonial

"Clearview Intelligence have found the introduction of the Healthy Workplace Standards in Milton Keynes a breath of fresh air. It is a place where our organisation can showcase the work we are doing to improve our staff’s health and wellbeing, as well as provide us with the support and opportunity to continuously improve our internal health, wellbeing and safety practices. The process itself to upload evidence in order to gain awards is simple and effortless, and the feedback provided by the panel for each standard is extremely helpful and supportive. Thank you to everyone involved at Milton Keynes council in the development and delivery of the Healthy Workplace Standards!"

Aira testimonial

"I am absolutely blown away by how easy the whole process is (I thought I had misunderstood something from reading on the website but you confirmed it is exactly like that). I am impressed that I am fully in control of the time it takes to achieve any of the standards and that it is free. It feels like one of those things where you are thinking "So what's the catch?" or "It's too good to be true".

Aiimi testimonial

"Workplace mental health and wellbeing has always been at the heart of Aiimi. Being introduced to the Health Workplace Awards was incredible, it not only gave us a space to showcase what we do for our team but to also learn about what more we could be doing for them. The support I have received in starting this journey has been amazing, to have access to such knowledge and expertise and enjoy the process along the way has been so refreshing! Aiimi are at the beginning of this process, but it is one that I am excited by as every conversation I have with the team guides me towards a better way of supporting the Aiimi Team".

Ceetak

Here is a video testimonial from Ceetak.